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I've been using the Canadian maple brand for close to a year. Price difference is negligible per cook and its performed well. I used RO when I started and was not too pleased with flavour and foriegn objects.

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I have found blue bag Royal Oak in my area @ Wholesale Foods in Canada that now says its 100% natural and is a product of USA. Bag size [10lbs] is also slightly different in size compared to Canadian Tires / Lowes which is 8.8lbs or 17.4lbs.

*Lights up easily and burns clean as quickly as any others I have used. No black smoke. No sparks.

*Nice subtle smoke flavor - not over-powering.

I'm fixing to buy a few more bags next week and see how it goes. Nothing special about it I guess but nothing really wrong with it so far. Perhaps not a "premium" lump, but it's priced accordingly and it seems to cook food just fine!

A bit cheaper than my go to charcoal [Basques] with a significantly longer burn time.

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My KJ is on its way to Yellowknife as I speak (Seems stuck in Edmonton - any of you folks in E town able to give it a push for me :-).

Here in Yellowknife I have three options - Royal Oak Blue - from Canadian Tire, MapleLeaf and the Big Green Egg brand (which is considerably more expensive) - Royal Oak and Mapleleaf seems to be reasonably close in price (RO is slightly cheaper) - should I forgo the RO and just go with the MapleLeaf?

Also - I'll be in Edmonton in a few weeks - whats the best go to source to stock up on Lump???

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My KJ is on its way to Yellowknife as I speak (Seems stuck in Edmonton - any of you folks in E town able to give it a push for me :-).

Here in Yellowknife I have three options - Royal Oak Blue - from Canadian Tire, MapleLeaf and the Big Green Egg brand (which is considerably more expensive) - Royal Oak and Mapleleaf seems to be reasonably close in price (RO is slightly cheaper) - should I forgo the RO and just go with the MapleLeaf?

Also - I'll be in Edmonton in a few weeks - whats the best go to source to stock up on Lump???

Id buy a few bags of Royal Oak and Maple leaf and see what you like best. In Edmonton Lowes has a # of different decent brands on hand including R/O, Basques, Kamado Joe and Maple leaf. Prices at Lowes are about as good as it gets around here - maybe cheaper than what you would pay in Yellowknife.

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Id buy a few bags of Royal Oak and Maple leaf and see what you like best. In Edmonton Lowes has a # of different decent brands on hand including R/O, Basques, Kamado Joe and Maple leaf. Prices at Lowes are about as good as it gets around here - maybe cheaper than what you would pay in Yellowknife.

So far I’ve sworn off Blue Bag RO beciase of the Black smoke and foul smell. The bag of RO I bought were full of lumber mill scrap. What looked like off cuts from hardwood boards.

Generaliy I only use Basques and Maple Leaf for hot and fast cooks. The only downfall of the Maple Leaf and Basque Brands is excessive small pieces in some bags. Maple makes brittle charcoal. Chips and dust are a fact of life with Maple Charcoal.

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I have been buying the Royal Oak blue bag for years but lately the quality has been terrible. The lumps are so small that they fall out of the bottom of my chimney. There are some large lumps but very few and a lot of dust. I went onto the Royal Oak websire hoping to contact them but it doesn't allow me to do so. Can anyone please send me an email address to contact them?